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Cherry Crumble Bars

I used to think I disliked cherries, because I hated cherry-flavored candies, vitamins, drinks, and especially cherry cough drops. But I don’t think I’d ever tasted an actual cherry until I was a teenager. Weird, right?

After that first taste, I was in love!

Now, in the summertime, I’ll almost always have fresh cherries in my kitchen. Such was the case yesterday, when a neighbor came to me with a special request…

cherry crumble bars

She is a huge fan of my Buttery Berry Crumble Bars.

And she asked if she could hire me to make her a batch. Someone requesting a vegan baked good?? Obviously I told her I’d be happy to make them for free!  To deviate a little different from last time, I decided to make the bars with fresh cherries:

cherry bars

Cherry Crumble Bars

(Makes 10-14 bars)

  • 1.5 cup whole-wheat pastry flour (or white flour, or Bob’s gluten-free)
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar or coconut brown sugar (or xylitol, for a sugar-free option)
  • pinch stevia OR add another tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 cup plus 3 tbsp cold butter sub (Or click for: Fat-Free Option.)
  • 2 tbsp milk of choice
  • 2 cups fresh or frozen cherries, chopped (8oz)
  • 2 tsp cornstarch
  • 3 tbsp pure maple syrup, agave, or honey
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • optional: a handful of chocolate chips

Cherry Bars Recipe: Stir together the first eight ingredients, making sure to break the butter up really well so that little crumbs form. Scoop 2/3 of the dough into a 4×7, oiled glass dish (or any small pan), and press down firmly. In a separate bowl, stir together the other ingredients. Layer them into the pan, then top with the rest of the dough from the first pan and press down a bit. Bake for 45 minutes at 350 F, then cool at least 30 minutes before cutting into bars. Store uncovered, unless you want a soft crust (in which case, you should cover completely with saran wrap).

View Cherry Crumble Bars Nutrition Facts

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Published on July 15, 2011

Meet Katie

Chocolate Covered Katie is one of the top 25 food websites in America, and Katie has been featured on The Today Show, CNN, Fox, The Huffington Post, and ABC's 5 O'clock News. Her favorite food is chocolate, and she believes in eating dessert every single day.

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109 Comments

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  1. vogelstar says

    Hello,

    I made these bars today but used strawberries instaed because i had so many. They are just tastilicious. I posted a pic of them on my blog if you care to see how they look. Keep baking!

    • Chocolate-Covered Katie says

      They are beautiful! I’m so honored you tried them, and I think strawberries sound like a delicious variation.
      ALL your blog photos are beautiful. Makes me *almost* wish for snow. Almost!

      I couldn’t find a place to comment on your blog, so I hope you see this :).

  2. KayT says

    Hey Katie, when making it with the vegan butter, does that make the recipe dairy free? I am trying to make a dessert for a friend who is allergic to gluten and dairy. Thanks! (These look delicious and I cannot wait to try them out)

  3. Amy says

    I like to bake cherries and fresh apples in the oven. I make a glaze to pour over them before baking; olive oil, brown sugar, cinnamon and walnuts. I bake them at 350 until the apples are soft and serve warm with vanilla frozen yogurt or by its self. Very yummy!

  4. Felicia says

    I do not like cherries! I give them a chance every summer when my siblings go crazy and buy them in bulk- but yuck. Mostly, I’m just pick about having to pick out a seed in between each bite.

  5. Aimee says

    LOVE Cherries, detest cherry-flavored things.
    I grew up picking cherries every summer in my Grandparent’s orchard (Washington State), and then we’d help pit them (with a big, counter-top pitter), and my Grandma would can them (great for cold fruit-soup, thickened with tapioca!). 🙂
    Now, living in eastern Washington we pick TONS (like 120lbs!!) of cherries every year, pit & freeze them for year-round cherry “ice cream” (100% fruit, like banana ice cream…in the vita-mix), smoothies, cobblers, oatmeal, and anything else we can think of). It helps that we’ve found an orchard where we can get Bing (the super-dark, nearly black-purple), Rainier, Royal Anne, even pie cherries, for just $.80/lb.

  6. Christy says

    Sorry if you’ve been asked this before and dealt with it on a post, but I’m always unsure as to how to convert stevia amounts when I don’t have it in “packets”. I have a bottle of powdered stevia that I don’t love to bake with because it has a weird aftertaste, and some vanilla-flavored liquid stevia that is much yummier but requires that I just make a wild guess on amounts when it’s called for in your recipes. Thoughts?

    • CCK says

      I highly recommend Nu-Naturals Stevia because it has less of an aftertaste than other brands. If you use that brand, then 1/2 a teaspoon equals one packet. 🙂

  7. Melody says

    So glad for this recipe. I have some cherries in the fridge I need to eat before they go bad. I love cherries so I always buy more than my family can eat.

  8. christina.eats says

    I made these into a kind of a crisp – put the cherry layer in a pan and topped it with the crumble layer (subbed out a third of the flour for oats and added in about 1/4 c extra oats). It was delicious! Also, I added in about 1/4 almond extract in place of some of the vanilla extract and it just added that extra something-something.

    Thanks Katie!

  9. Sunnie says

    That’s how I am with artificial fruit-flavors…I detest them, and therefore think that I’ll probably hate their authentic counterparts (ex. I HATE artificial grape, and therefore am wary to try concord grapes, although they’re probably quite yummy…maybe…). These look awesome! 🙂

  10. Sonja says

    I LOVE cherries and eat them almost every day! During the off-season period (and sometime during the in-season, because they are pricey), I buy large bags of pitted frozen cherries. I pack them in my lunch and by morning snack they are thawed. But, I like them frozen also. They also go great in a cup of hot tea… they cool the tea down a bit and you get to eat them when the tea is gone! Can’t wait to try this recipe and so glad a friend turned me on to your blog.

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